If I Just Lay Here
by TheFifthCharmedOne
Summary: Post-Mockingjay; before they can fix the world, Peeta and Katniss have to repair their bond. Everllark. –Based solely on the books-


If I Just Lay Here

By: TheFifthCharmedOne

Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games by that wonderful Suzanne Collins, or this perfectly fitting song by Snow Patrol.

Summary: Post-Mockingjay; before they can fix the world, Peeta and Katniss have to repair their bond. Everllark. –Based solely on the books-

I highly suggest listening to Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol while reading this fic! It makes it make much more sense! :3

-X-X-X-

** -Katniss- **

Icy breath escaped my mouth as I looked over the world around us. So much had changed, so many people had died. It started with the seventy-fourth Hunger Games and ended with the deaths of most of District 12 and my little sister, Prim.

A spasm of pain erupted from my heart, reminding me of just how much I missed her. My mother had disappeared to help the injured, and my father was gone forever. Gale was in District 2, with some kind of fancy new job. Rue was dead; she had died in the first Hunger Games.

I had no one.

"Katniss."

Except for Peeta.

I turned around slowly and saw him standing there, his blue eyes staring at me with so many emotions that I could barely decipher them all.

"Peeta." I murmured, and before I knew what I was doing, I ran into his arms. Tears burned in my eyes as I remembered how each person I'd ever loved had died. Starting with my father in the coal mines, and ending with the explosion that ripped Prim away from me. The only ones that hadn't died were Gale and my mother, and neither of them were here with me; when I needed them the most.

Except for Peeta.

"Katniss." he breathed into my ear. My body shivered with the recognition, and I felt whole again. He held me close, leaving no space between us.

"Peeta." I said softly. I pulled away from him enough to look into his eyes.

"Katniss, we're alive and the war is over. Real or not real?" Peeta asked.

"Real." I said, and with that statement, I'm reminded even more how much the Hunger Games destroyed us. President Snow hijacked Peeta and made him hate me. But now, almost a year after everything, Peeta has recovered, for the most part. He still has nightmares and still sometimes mixes the past with the present, but he has improved so much. I have no idea what I would do if he wasn't here.

"I love you. You love me. Real or not real?" his voice has gotten lower, and I smile to myself.

"Definitely real." I answered. His grip on me tightened, and I felt his lips brush along my neck. I smiled again.

-X-X-X-

Wheat grass scratched my cheek as I turned to face Peeta. We were lying on the field near my old hunting territory; I had just caught our dinner. He was staring at the darkening sky, some kind of emotion churning in his eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, and he turned to face me.

"Everything. I try to organize what happened in real life and what Snow wanted me to believe. Sometimes it's harder than others, but," I felt him take my hand. "When you're with me, I can find my way from the darkness."

I smiled again; belatedly wondering if he knew just how much more I smiled around him. He made me happy in a way that no one ever had. Not even Gale, who had been my best friend, and still was in some ways, had made me feel this way.

Then I remembered all of the things waiting for us back in District 12, as well as the other districts. There was so much work to do, so much damage that I couldn't even begin to understand how to repair.

Haymitch was probably in a ditch somewhere, with his trusty bottle. Sometimes I wished I could forget things as easily as he did, but then I reminded myself that he never actually forgot. He pretended that he did, to make sense of the horror, the tragedy. I can understand that.

Effie Trinket – God only knew what had happened to her. I assume she went back to the Capitol, but the vacant look in her eyes when I saw her last time makes me wonder.

"Katniss?" Peeta's voice brought me back – just like it always does – from my thoughts. "We have a lot of work to do, don't we?"

"We do." I said. The construction and physical repair was only a part of the total repair that had to be done. There was trauma worse than ours out there: children without parents, siblings, any family at all. I could relate. At least I had Peeta. He made sense of the mess my life had become since that reaping what seemed like so long ago….

"If I asked you to lie here with me and forget that, would you?"

His eyes met mine.

I replied with one word.

"Yes."

_If I just lay here…would you lie with me, and just forget the world?_

-X-X-X-

A/N: I wrote the first ¾ of this story months ago, but I forgot about it after I switched from my PC to my Mac. I just found it again, polished it up and finished it. First ever Hunger Games Fanfiction – what do you all think?

-Charmy


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